The second day of the West Coast Cup gave the same wonderful racing conditions that we ended with on day one. With only minor changes to the course the race management fired off the racing at such a rapid pace that the teams barely got time to rest between starts.
With only a few races in the second round robin left Måns Holmberg is rising to the top. Despite his young age, only 19, he is showing that he is ready to carry on the match racing torch for his family. This season he inherited two team members from Rahm Racing in the form of Holger Tideman and Jacob Wilson. These two are probably some of the most experienced M32 sailors in the world and together with Axel Munkby the four of them make very few mistakes. The hours they have put in during training and racing is starting to show and has put them at the top of the leaderboard after day two.
Just behind Typhoon X Racing the star-studded team sailing under the Danish flag is proving every bit as dangerous as we warned them to be before the event. Allan Nørregaard is driving the boat like he’s sailed it forever and when he has Torvar Mirsky, Max Salminen and Anders Thomsen giving the boat full power they´re a force to be reckoned with.
“The M32 feels just like a big Nacra so it took very little time to get a good feel for the boat and with Mirsky calling the starts and the tactics in the match racing it is working great. We’re having a great time and I would love to be able to build a team long term around these guys. But I know Mirsky has plans for his own campaign so we’ll have to see.” Nørregaard explains with a big grin on his face.
At the back of the fleet we’re starting to see a gap forming. Hans Wallén of Wallén Racing and Rasmus Rosengren from Artemis Youth Racing really need to find something special in their last races if they’re going to avoid elimination before the semifinals tomorrow morning. Kim Kling and Philip Bendon sadly have no opportunity to get in to the semifinals this time.
Kling comments on his first WMRT entry, “We’re here to listen and learn. We’re having a blast and the team is learning small and big things in every match. If we can keep on improving like we’re doing now I’m sure we’ll be able to get to a WC event this season which is our goal.”
Racing continues tomorrow with the second full Round Robin in the morning and semifinals and finals in the afternoon. Tomorrow we’ll crown the masters of WMRT West Coast Cup and decide which two teams get the invitation to the WC event. Follow the results live at www.wmrt.com
